BELLFLOWER – The sequence, the team can only hope, will prove a turning point in an anticipated season that entailed a less-than-inspiring start.

Daniel Hamilton caught a short inbounds pass, took three dribbles toward the top of the key and unleashed a three-pointer. It swished through the net as the final buzzer sounded, marking a victory against one of the nation’s highest-regarded high school basketball teams led by one of the nation’s highest-regarded high school basketball players.

Though the season didn’t exactly begin as envisioned for St. John Bosco’s boys basketball team, last Saturday night’s win in Chicago against Duke-bound Jahlil Okafor and Whitney Young closer emulated the results the Braves expect this season. The defending CIF-Southern Section Division 3A champions feature a lineup littered with future Division I players, highlighted by Hamilton, a University of Connecticut-bound senior, and one of the nation’s top junior guards in Tyler Dorsey.

Hamilton and Dorsey are the top returners from last year’s championship team, which lost to graduation McDonald’s All-American Isaac Hamilton, now at UCLA, as well as Darien Williams and Brian Nebo. The Braves gained a plethora of talent in freshman Billy Preston and transfers Vance Jackson and Lorne Currie, but the roster features a mere two seniors.

“The team is really young. We were just getting to know each other,” said Hamilton, referencing two early-season losses. “We’ll just continue to get better as we play with each other.”

After a season-opening blowout victory over Palos Verdes and a 14-point win against Millikan, Bosco was dealt a pair of defeats from Mayfair and Westchester in the Pac-Shores Tournament, which was held the week of Thanksgiving. Through the season’s first four games, third-year Bosco coach Derrick Taylor said he did not see the intensity or focus needed from his team for a full 32-minute contest.

But Taylor, like many others, believes this year’s Bosco squad has the physical talent to compete for a state open division championship. In the preseason, USA TODAY ranked the Braves the 21st-best team in the country.

Hamilton is the team’s senior leader. With his brother Isaac now at UCLA, the youngest of the four Hamilton brothers has taken on an even bigger role this season. The versatile 6-foot-8 guard/forward averages a team-leading 22.8 points and 11 rebounds through the first five games. He also dishes out 3.6 assists per contest and typically defends the opposing team’s top player.

“The only person hurt more than me by those losses was him,” Taylor said. “Me and Daniel, we have lot of similarities. We’re both ultra-competitive and losing to us is like it’s the end of the world. Daniel was really hurt by it. Even during those games we lost, Daniel was trying to will us to victory.”

“(Hamilton) hates to lose,” said Jackson, who has played AAU travel basketball with Hamilton and Dorsey for Team Belmont Shore. “Even in practice, when we scrimmage, whatever team he’s on, he will never lose. He has that will. He teaches us that and we feed off that.”

While still a junior, Dorsey is also an elite high school player with scholarship offers from nearly every premier Division I college program. The 6-foot-4 floor general is an athletic, physical scoring point guard and is averaging 18.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists so far. Taylor compared Dorsey’s style of play to that of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook.

Then there are Jackson, a sharp-shooting 6-foot-8 sophomore who transferred from La Salle of Pasadena, and Preston, a talented 6-foot-8 freshman who garnered a scholarship offer to USC well before his first high school game. Both are starters, with Jackson averaging 10.4 points and Preston pitching in 7.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Rodney Henderson, the starting power forward, adds 4.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while sixth-man Brian Enriquez chips in 4.0 points per game off the bench. The Braves will get a big boost come Jan. 6 when Currie, a transfer from Fairfax, becomes eligible. Taylor labeled the 6-foot-3 junior guard as the best athlete in the program.

“Lorne is a very underrated player in our class,” Dorsey said. “He’s going to help us a lot in the back court.”

Bosco is playing a tough nonleague schedule once again this year to prepare itself for Trinity League play and the likes of Mater Dei, which is led by the Arizona-bound Stanley Johnson. From Dec. 18 to 23, the Braves compete in the ultra-competitive City of Palms Tournament in Fort Myers, Fla. and will also play a game in the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic on Jan. 18 in Springfield, Mass.

“When we get it together, we’re going to be very scary later on in the season, I think,” Dorsey said. “We’re trying to get this to mesh together, fit the puzzle pieces where they need to be fit and when we get that, we’ll be really solid.”

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